For many, many months there has been no question that Donald Trump is incompetent, disdainful of democracy and easily puts his ego and personal needs above the safety and security of our nation. Far more notable is the cynical silence of Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ted Cruz and other Texas Republican leaders who are unwilling to stand up for Texan and American values.Over the past week, Abbott and others have looked on as Trump has:

Embarrassed himself and our nation by launching personal attacks littered with lies to disrupt and undermine NATO meetings.

After the release of a detailed indictment exposing 12 Russian operatives who carried out a cyber assault on the 2016 U.S. elections at the direction of Vladimer Putin, Trump failed to take any action and, instead, attacked the investigation as a “witchhunt.”

Today, following a meeting with Putin, Trump refused to defend U.S. security agencies and the fundamental interests of the United States by backing Putin’s denial of the cyber attack over the hard facts presented by U.S. intelligence agencies.

For Texans there is an important question remaining: Are Texas Republicans willing to put self-interest and partisanship aside to take a real stand against Donald Trump as he breaks with crucial American allies and defends America’s most dangerous enemies? At this point, the answer appears to be “no.”Greg Abbott is stone silent on Trump’s infatuation with Putin, despite mounting evidence that Russian agents have been active in Texas and that he too was manipulated by Russians during the Jade Helm controversy.John Cornyn sits as a national Republican leader. He weakly commented that he “believed” the U.S. Intelligence Community, but he refused to directly criticize Trump’s conduct at the NATO summit or with Putin.Ted Cruz has the ego and political instincts to find a TV with both eyes shut. Not today. Cruz is hiding out – perhaps with Will Hurd, Pete Sessions and John Culberson. Texas gave Donald Trump more electoral votes than any other state. Meaningful opposition to his disloyal actions by Texas Republicans would matter. However, Texas Republicans are terrified of their unhinged partisan base and hopelessly submissive to Donald Trump.

In Texas currently, the very notion of Texas Republicans taking a strong stand against Donald Trump – even as he unravels the fabric of our democratic society – has become absurd. Texas voters must take up the challenge themselves and use the 2018 and 2020 elections to bring the change needed to protect our state and nation.

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